The Washington Post’s neologism contest winners.

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The Washington Post’s neologism contest winners.

December 2, 2019July 21, 2023 1941

I came across this today and broke up laughing. These are seriously clever! Thanks to the Washington Post. I wasn’t aware of their neologism contest, but I am now! Read and enjoy. Pass it along.

What I loved most about calling myself a reporter was that it gave me an excuse to show up anyplace.

Jeanette Walls

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil, trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

William Faulkner

No writer has ever yet been known to hang himself as long as he had another chapter left.

Thomas Wolfe

The road to ignorance is paved with good editors.

George Bernard Shaw

I haven’t got 10 rules that guarantee success, though I promise I’d share them if I did. The truth is that I found success by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process.

J.K. Rowling

You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.

Jodi Picoult

Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.

Edward Albee

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.

Robert Benchley

Ever heard of a carpenter not going to work because he has “carpenter’s block”? If a writer can’t write, it’s because he doesn’t really want to, he isn’t ready to get it on paper or he’s just plain lazy.

Chet Cunningham

No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.

E. B. White

If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.

Stan Lee

Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.

Lisa See

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.

Stephen Wright

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

Oscar Wilde

Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.

Michael Burke

If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer. You’re a waiter.

Dan Poynter

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

E. L. Doctorow

It is only natural to pattern yourself after someone. But you can’t just copy someone. If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to.

Bob Dylan

A true author, no matter the medium, is an artist with godlike knowledge of his subject, and the proof of his authorship is that his pages smack of authority.